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Robot Lords of Tokyo
Robot Lords of Tokyo are a stoner/hard rock/metal band from Columbus, Ohio, USA. Founded by Rick Ritzler and Brad Stemple as an ode to the classic hard rock and metal band they grew up with, it evolved with vocalist Brad Jones at the helm. In a similar fashion to Probot, featuring a host of guest players from the Ohio music scene to round out many of the tracks. Despite that theme the band does play live and has in some capacity since at least 2005. The band's name stems from a snippet of the Clutch song "1001110101" from their 2005 album Robot Hive/Exodus as they felt "Neil Fallon's a genius lyricist and his band are a huge influence, so it seemed like a fitting tribute.". History The origins of the Robot Lords of Tokyo* can be traced back to the Columbus-based hard rock band Green Sky Grey, who independently released three albums between 1999 and 2003 and gigged extensively throughout the Midwest. Shortly after the group's demise in 2004, drummer Rick Ritzler and guitarist Brad Stemple began to get together to jam on the classic metal tunes they grew up with. After several weeks of cranking out classics from Dio, Motley Crue, Motorhead, Ozzy, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, the duo hatched a plan to record cover versions of some personal favorites, and invite friends to appear as guest musicians on the various tracks. The first phone call was made to longtime friend and former Green Sky Grey lead singer Paul Jones. As the three began to gather to work out their chosen cover songs, it was inevitable that ideas for original material would start to emerge. Combining the fact that all three play guitar, have home studios, and are on a lifelong quest to write the Ultimate Metal Riff, an intense game of "heavier than thou" quickly ensued. The resulting songs represented elements of the trio's diverse influences, including Black Sabbath, Trouble, Down, Iron Maiden, King's X, Corrosion of Conformity and Motley Crue, among many others. The project had taken a left turn and the all-covers idea was scrapped for a hybrid record consisting of these newly minted originals sprinkled with rock-hard gems from Motorhead, UFO, and Motley Crue. Thus, the Robot Lords of Tokyo were born. The resulting album (Released in 2006) is a truly collaborative effort, benefiting immensely from the time and talents of some of Ohio's most outstanding players. Standing proudly at the top of that list is Fall of Man guitarist Joe Viers, who is also a top recording engineer/producer in Ohio. In addition to his engineering duties, Joe laid down all the thunderous bass guitar on the CD, truly going above and beyond the call of duty. Another key participant and Robot Lord for life is Beau VanBibber, lead throat for thrash-masters Deflagration. Beau's unique talents and uncompromising delivery were so brutal, he was quickly elevated from guest vocalist on "Iron Fist" and "Knock Em Dead Kid", to a vital component of almost all the originals. The band would be quick with a follow-up record, releasing Whiskey, Blood & Napalm in 2008, again featuring Jones and Ritzler as the core members with a host of lead guitarists guesting throughout. The band would tour behind the record in 2009 though details on the tour are relatively unknown.Robot Lords of Tokyo MySpace Five years later on 15 January 2013 the band would release a third album in Virtue & Vice, again with the theme of Jones and Ritzler being the consistent players with a host of guests. From that point the band largely played in the Ohio area sporadically. As of 2018 work has begun on a fourth studio album. Discography *'Robot Lords of Tokyo' (2006, Riot) *'Whiskey, Blood & Napalm' (2008, Self-Released) *'Virtue & Vice' (2013, Self-Released) *'TBA' (2019?) Members *'Rick Ritzler' - Drums *'Brad Stemple' - Guitars *'Joe Viers' - Bass *'Paul Jones' - Vocals External Links *Noisecreep article on the band. References Category:Band Category:Columbus Category:Ohio Category:USA Category:Stoner Rock Category:Hard Rock Category:Heavy Metal Category:Stoner Metal